Violence recorded during election 2020 has dented Ghana's image - Ibn Chambas

The immediate past Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, says pocket of violence recorded in the 2020 general elections has dented Ghana's image.

Speaking at a High-Level Post-Election Stakeholders’ Review Workshop of the elections under the auspices of CODEO, Dr. Ibn Chambas stated that Ghana needs to work to reclaim its enviable democratic credentials on the continent.

“I hear that, indeed, in some of our neighbouring countries, we did witness crisis prior to the election, during the election and post-election including, for instance, Guinea and other neighbouring countries like Côte d’Ivoire where we had a large number of election violence. It is in that regard that we should also be concerned that perhaps we lost our bragging rights because I used to be able to brag about the fact that despite tensions and differences during elections in Ghana, there are never any deaths, but I think this time our image has been dented.”

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Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas also lamented Ghana’s sharp decline in regional benchmarks for justice and democracy, as well as security and rule of law.

Referencing Mo Ibrahim’s latest report on democracy in Africa, the diplomat and politician said Ghana has to confront the issues head-on.

“In the category of Justice and rule of law, our standing has declined given the parameters that the Mo Ibrahim foundation uses to rate African countries. We need to be conscious of that and interrogate what is causing the decline because we should be a leader in that category. We also see a decline in security.”

Some persons died during and after the polls prompting the NDC Caucus in Parliament to first table a motion for the House to probe the matter.

Though the European Union's Election Observation Mission expressed satisfaction with the overall conduct of the election and even said it met international standards, the NDC has rejected that and says they will only accept the EU's assessment if certain reforms are made to it.